Bangles’ Eternal Flame Turns 25 This Week

Time does fly. This week, Bangles’ ‘Eternal Flame’ made its leap to the top of the Swedish singles chart. Included on the 1988 album “Everything,” the track was written by Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg and Bangles’ singer Susanna Hoffs. Kelly and Steinberg have written numerous hits such as Cyndi Lauper’s ‘’True Colors’ and ‘I Drove All Night,’ The Pretenders’ ‘I’ll Stand By You’ as well as Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin.’

Back then, The Bangles was only the third girl group to hit No.1 several times following The Supremes and The Shirelles. Originally issued in February 1989, the track topped the Billboard Hot 100 in April when it succeeded Mike + The Mechanics’ ‘The Living Years.’ It was a UK No.1 in April, while it reached the top in Norway and Australia in June.

The track returned to No.1 in 2001 with the girl group Atomic Kitten as part of the re-issue of its “Right Now” album.

Atomic Kitten – Eternal Flame

It has also been covered in Japanese by the singer Tomoya Nagase, together with Michael Jackson’s nephews 3T. That 1997 version was included in the TV drama DXD where Nagase starred.

In 1999, Australian group Human Nature covered the track reaching No.8 on the national ARIA charts. Haven sold more than 1.6m records in Australia, the group was originally named The 4 Trax. They currently perform Motown songs on the Las Vegas Strip.